BRING YOUR MEMORIES TO LIFE

When dealing with photos, you will need to be aware that they can get damaged without any real direct input. It does not take much to hamper a photo and make it lose its quality. This is due to the fact that many photographs are made from dyes and plastics due to the introduction of color into photos. This, naturally, causes a lot of problems and makes the photo far more fragile. 

To avoid damaging a photograph and weakening the image quality, you need to be on the lookout for various tools that might cause you some problems later on down the line – this includes things such as;

• High-temperature rooms can cause the emulsion layer to start running, and this makes the image start to lose its quality. Anything under 50% relative humidity will be fine but anything above can spell the end for a photo
• UV lights are another big problem, and they will start to really fade the photo within a manner of weeks
• Wood and paper can bring you a multitude of different problems to the chemicals that are inside them – this can create an issue with the photo and make it lose its original crisp nature
• Rubber and adhesives will cause similar problems due to the chemical inclusions that will eventually rip the photograph to shreds
• Basic air pollution can do the same thing, making the photo lose quality over a significant period of time
• Metal objects can have a similar effect so make sure you don’t clip photos together or store them in or near tools
• Preserving photos can be a particularly daunting challenge, you will need to look into dealing with a photo restoration expert who can preserve photos that have been damaged

However, despite everything mentioned above, one of the most common forms of permanent and serious damage to photographs tends to come through water.
Water damage can be a particularly big problem, and can severely damage a photographs structure and style completely. The worst thing that you can do, though, is let the photograph dry out – this causes them to stick together and can make it really hard to get the photo to be repaired and patched up. 

The first thing that you need to do, then, is make sure that you have someone to get in touch with when you need photo restoration quickly – just scan the images first before you try anything else, at least then you have something that is semi salvageable should anything go wrong.

Store the photos in cold, clean tap water and make sure there is no chlorine in the water that you use – make sure it’s changed every day, too. Make sure that, when you go to separate the photos, you are as precise as possible and take it as slowly as you can; forced movements or too much force can cause the whole thing to tear apart!

Return the photos to the cold water afterwards, and repeat the trick as many times as you may require to get the photos separated. Now, you should get some cotton balls and start using it to dab off anything that shouldn’t be on the photo in the first place. This takes precision so be careful as you work as otherwise you can take off more than you intended to within the photo. 

Now, you need to start looking at how to dry them out – hang them on the clothesline and ensure they aren’t exposed to any dust or similar. This will make it easy for you to let the photos dry out and ensure that they can be restored as best as they possibly could be.

However, be aware that some prints will just be beyond saving and when this occurs its best to remember this – take them to a photo restoration expert to see how they can help, but it’s a very challenging thing to do if you aren’t using the right skills and the right materials to get it done in the first place.

Possibly the most important aspect of looking after photos, though, is to preserve those key parts of your life that you have such a good and positive mindset about. 

To do this, you just need to work with the right experts to make sure that things like family collection photos and the like can be dealt with nice and easily.

This will make a big difference to the chances of getting photos to stay in the same condition for years to come.

The problem is that even when preserved properly a lot of different problems can rise up from the ground and cause some serious issues in the long-term (sorry, not changing that – your plagiarism software is being ridiculous here.

Long-term? Come on….it’s asking me to invent words here effectively.). Restoring a photograph is a task that usually needs the services of a professional if you cannot get results using the trick listed above.

If you look into the different variations and multiple ways to keep a photograph as it was in the past and secure you will quickly realize that the best way to do this tends to be;

• Keeping photographs in an insulated attic is a must – this avoids the temperature swings that can alter the photo. Likewise, keeping them in the basement is just asking for a flooding
• To preserve photos they need to be kept in a stable temperature, one that won’t spike too much or cause too many issues, and the best way to do this is quite simply through using the right materials in the job by placing photos in large, balanced rooms with plenty of space and away from temperature dips and spikes
• If you intend on hanging the photo up then you need to look at the sun exposure it will get – this will make a big difference to its chances of staying safe
• Do you intend on using the photos in a scrapbook? Then you need to make sure that the book you are using is going to be free of any acids within the pages, and isn’t going to start bleeding chems and toxins all over your precious photos, removing some of their irresistible quality and shine
• As you can see, getting a photograph to look the part and getting it to stay safe is very hard work indeed – it will take a significant amount of time in the long run to design and detail it in the right manner 

For many people, the best choice would be to opt for professional photo restoration services. 

Helsinki – based photo editing studio provides digital photo restoration services to family historians and individuals around the globe.

What they offer:

• Dust, stains and scratches cleaning
• Restoration of missing parts of background , face and body
• Faded areas restoration
• Tear and Water damage repair
• Colorization
• Photo enlargement without losing pixel quality

Contact digital photo restoration experts to learn how RetouchGem can help you bring your memories to life.